


Curiouser and Curiouser

by starforged



Category: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 07:32:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starforged/pseuds/starforged
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sequel to "Wondered". After a mostly-accidental kiss between Will and Alice, he still can't really figure himself anymore than he could before it happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Curiouser and Curiouser

She hasn’t spoken to him in about two days. Which is both an amazing feat, considering that they’re traveling together, and also annoying. Because they’re traveling together, and all he’s gotten out of Alice are a couple of grunts and glares that could possibly kill a man.

That says something about him, doesn’t it?

As it is, he shuffles behind her as she throws her weight around, not bothering to care about the fact that every vine she cuts slaps him in the face. It’s like the plants themselves can sense her dark thoughts. He smacks them away from him, cursing under his breath.

It was a bloody kiss. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less. A mistake, even. Some Wonderland trickery at its finest, and honestly, she would have gone mad if he hadn’t done it. Maybe. Sort of.

Will rubs a hand down his face, biting back a groan as he pushes another vine away from him. It wasn’t even like he meant it, right? After all, she wants to be back with Cyrus. And that’s good. That doesn’t even bother. He wants to help her more than anything, for some strange reason that’s gone beyond selfishness at this point.

Honestly, what’s he even going to do with one wish that’s more like a curse anyway?

He watches her back, the way she stomps over the ground with a purpose, the general sway of her body twitching between determination and steadfast anger. It’s almost cute. Definitely annoying, but all Alice. And if he’s being honest - it’s the strangest of moods to be in right now - she’s cute.

This time, it’s a branch the swipes across his face as good as any woman’s hand. He’s deserving of it, but it’s starting to get ridiculous.

“Bloody hell, Alice,” he finally snaps, breaking the branch in his hand. The sound echoes around them.

She finally stops and turns to look at him, fire in her blue eyes. “What?”

“Be mad at me all you want, _despite_ the fact that I saved you from whatever horrible fate we were going to endure, but could you please stop taking it out on my face.”

Alice shifts a bit, throwing all of her weight onto one leg, a hip popping out as she crosses her arms over her chest. He’s really bothered by the level of detail he’s seeing in the way she stands at this point. “I could take it out on another body parts.”

He takes an involuntary step away from her. “No, that’s okay.” But he’s just glad to hear her voice. “Alice…”

She’s turning away from him now, ready to continue on, and he doesn’t know what to do. Should he reach for her, should he plead? Part of him is unbothered by it all, but mostly he’s just tired of it. He cares as much as he possibly can without a heart (not well at all, but it’s there).

“Alice, come on now. Can we at least talk about it?”

He stands firmly rooted to his spot, waiting for her to make one of two decisions. Walk on and forget it, or turn back around again to face.

But he knows her. He knows her well enough to know that there’s really only one decision she’ll make. So it’s no surprise when she turns back around to face him with a look like a devil.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Will sighs. “It wasn’t all that bad, was it?”

He’s lucky she doesn’t punch him, but the way her fists ball up, he knows that she wants to do it. “You- Look, I… You _kissed_ me.”

“It was an accident!”

“An _accident._ ”

“Right, exactly. Ya can’t blame me for it.”

She can, she totally can. She doesn’t even have to say anything for him to understand. Women. What is it with them. He runs a hand over his face, sighing loudly as he paces around. As he _squirms_ , more like.

“You kissed me first,” he reminds her, pointing a long finger down at her. She’s close enough now that she can actually smack his hand away.

“I was confused,” she huffs.

“Oh, but it’s my fault on the other end, is it?”

They glare at each other for a moment, neither budging. And he wonders what it is that makes her so mad about the situation. Wonder is such a terrible thing. He needs to stop that. 

“Why did you kiss me?” Alice demands from him, and he takes a deep breath. Of course. Of course she’d ask that, and it’s not like he can just lie to her.

Well, he could. He’s lied to women before. People. Caterpillars. But Alice is just a little different, a little open, a little too much his friend.

“I don’t know, why’d you kiss me?” A question for a question.

She shoots him an annoyed look, face scrunching up. “I asked first, Will.”

“I asked second. So there.” He’s being an idiot, he knows. “You looked so happy.”

There. That was a good answer, wasn’t it? She was _happy_ for a brief second, and considering all the misery she was getting flung at her left and right, there was absolutely nothing wrong with a friend helping out?

She can feel the bullshit in his words just as much as he can. 

“Because I thought you were Cyrus!” Alice practically explodes, throwing her arms in the air and stomping around in little circles. “Because I thought I had found him, and then it… I could feel _you_ kissing me. I don’t even know how to explain that, but…”

“I’m sorry,” Will tells her softly, closing his eyes for a brief moment. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

Except for push her away, except for not following his own curiosity. Except for being anything other than who he is and not… Letting that get in the way of them. 

She sighs, and he keeps going, keeps talking.

“I haven’t felt that in a long time, Alice,” he tries to explain. “What you feel for Cyrus, I don’t have that anymore.” 

He doesn’t have a heart anymore, can’t deal with the pain of loss. He’s not brave like her, but then again, she was ready to get rid of her own memories of Cyrus when it got too hard. Maybe they were both the same. Both cowards, both brave in their own ways. Both stupid beyond belief.

“That doesn’t make much sense, you know,” she points out to him, and he’s well aware that his thoughts don’t. If they did, he could easily put them behind him and just keep moving forward. 

“Yes, I agree. You know, I’ve decided that this talking things over is overrated. Let’s move on, yeah?

Will moves to walk past her and take the lead. Alice’s hand is on his elbow, fingers wrapping around his arm to keep him from going anywhere.

“Will…”  
The worst part is, he doesn’t rightly know how he feels about Alice. He cares about her. He wants to keep her safe. He wants her to be happy, and he will destroy anyone who gets in the way of that. He knows that. It’s called loyalty, friendship. Maybe if he had a heart, maybe he’d even love her. Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn’t need a heart for that. Who knows how these things work?

But what he does know, completely and irrevocably, is that _his_ feelings don’t matter, not if he’s in the way of her happiness in any way. And being the kind of guy that tends to enjoy self-preservation, he’d rather not go around destroying himself.

“It wasn’t bad,” Alice finally says, and he realizes they’ve just been standing there like this, with her hand keeping him still and him looking at her like some kicked puppy.

“What?”

“The way you kissed me. It wasn’t bad. Okay?”

He nods, and she blushes, finally looking away from him. “Okay.”

His arm burns where her fingers were when she finally lets him go. “We should find somewhere to camp soon. Come on.”

No vines hit him on the way out of the forest this time.


End file.
